Steve Clark was elected Miami's first non-Hispanic mayor in 20 years, regaining his old job in a lopsided victory over a Cuban-born opponent.
Hispanics rejected Miriam Alonso's call for ethnic solidarity and joined with blacks and whites in backing Clark, who first served during the 1960s, before an influx of Cubans and other Hispanics transformed Miami politics."People of all ethnic races, divisions in our great city, have come together to cast away the faces of division and hatred," said Clark, a 69-year-old who was known as the Marshmallow Mayor for his glad-handing at ribbon-cuttings, parades and parties.
Next door in Hialeah, voters gave Raul Martinez, who faces 10 years behind bars, four more years behind the mayor's desk.
Elsewhere, a state senator narrowly beat a former governor in the mayor's race in Albuquerque, N.M.; Oregon voters turned down a proposed sales tax; and voters in two Oregon towns approved measures against gay rights.
In Miami, Clark and Alonso, a former city commissioner, advanced to Tuesday's nonpartisan runoff after a six-way election a week earlier in which no one got the majority needed to win the job outright.
The 52-year-old Alonso had urged Hispanics, the city's largest voting bloc, to unite behind her, declaring, "This is a Hispanic seat."
Xavier Suarez, Miami's first Cuban-born mayor, chose not to run again. He campaigned for Clark and criticized Alonso's ethnic appeals.
Clark got 24,097 votes, or 59 percent, to Alonso's 17,060 votes, or 41 percent.
Miami has had a Hispanic mayor since 1973, when Puerto Rican-born Maurice Ferre won and held the post until losing to Suarez. About 43 percent of Miami's registered voters are Hispanic, 29 percent are black and 27 percent are white.
In Hialeah, Martinez's opponent, Nilo Juri, had urged voters to cast Martinez out rather than risk wasting their ballot on a man headed for prison. Martinez was convicted of taking money and land in return for zoning favors.